Jeff Edelstein: Obama, Congress squeeze middle class again

We’ve known forever the rich get richer, the poor get poorer. We live it, we eat it, we breathe it. We know it. We just know it.

But now, today, a big chunk of us are actually feeling it for the first time.

Take a look at your paycheck. Notice something missing? In short, many of us are seeing our first tax hike in our working history, and let me tell you something: We don’t like it.

Let’s talk about the tax “hike” first: It’s not really a tax hike. It’s a return to the norm. Back in 2010, as part of the stimulus measure, the payroll tax went from 6.2 percent to 4.2 percent for two years. As of Jan. 1, and as part of the fiscal cliff nonsense, it’s back to 6.2 percent. This is money that goes to pay Social Security. And it’s back to what it used to be.

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But “what it used to be” doesn’t sugarcoat the pain it’s going to inflict. If you make $50,000, you can expect to see an extra $1,000 taken out of your paycheck this year. If you make $100,000, you’re going to be minus an extra $2,000. Anything over $113,700 stops getting taxed (more on that fact later).

Again, note where the money goes. It goes to Social Security, which means technically, we put the money in now, we get the money back later.

But that doesn’t help pay today’s bills.

“Every month I have to strategize to squeeze out enough to get gas and pay bills and still have enough to barely have food in the house,” said Hamilton, N.J., resident April Nicolo in a spirited discussion on her Facebook page. “It’s like I have to pick and choose lately.”

And it’s just going to get worse.

Let me be clear for a moment: I’m not against paying my taxes. But this one, this “return the norm,” well, this one hurts. You know why? Because I work for a living, which means I’m getting cranky with the bums who collect their government cheese while doing nothing to better their own lives. (Obvious disclaimer: Not saying everyone who gets government help is a layabout, not by a longshot; just saying some of them are, and I personally know about a half-dozen.) So yes. I’m aggravated there’s people gaming the system on my dime. On the flip side, I’m equally steamed when I start thinking about the wealthier among us, or at least the folks making over that $113,700 barrier. Sure, they’re getting the same tax hit I am, but then it stops. Someone who making $3 million is still paying only $2,000 and change in payroll taxes, the same as someone making $100,000, and only a grand more than those of us making $50K.

The poor don’t get hit on this, the rich don’t get hit on this, the layabouts don’t get hit on this, the investment income people don’t get hit on this … the only people getting hit on this are people who work for a living and make less than $100K a year.

To be clear, again: It is the working middle class who are seeing a pay cut, plain and simple. Revolutions have probably started over less. We work for hourly wages, and we’re getting burned.

This could be solved, obviously. Raise the $113,700 limit so higher income workers have to put more into the kitty. Cut Social Security benefits to wealthy senior citizens. Make it harder for the so-called layabouts to collect anything, ever. Just about any measure would be better than whacking middle class America with a tax hike.

And not for nothing, but this will probably destroy the economy. If I don’t have money to spend, I’m not going to spend it. Think about it: Say you’re a two-income family, bringing in 100K. That’s $2,000, gone. That’s a new 40” flat screen TV, a dozen lovely Saturday night dinners-and-a-movie, and a weekend trip to Atlantic City. Poof. Gone.

Brilliant move, Washington lawmakers. Take money out of the pockets of the working men and women of America. This should work out well. Should do wonders to keep that economy sputtering along.